Walsall manager Michael Flynn claimed it was a case of if, not when, Walsall would score against 10-man Swindon.

The Saddlers took 79 minutes to get their noses in front through a Danny Johnson penalty after Harrison Minturn saw red on his professional debut for the visitors, before Timmy Abraham wrapped things up with his first Walsall goal two minutes later.

“It was just a matter of if not when the goal came”, claimed Flynn. “We were already dominating the game and we were quite relaxed already but it was nice to finish them off.

“I thought first half it took us a while to get going, I made a lot of changes but we gave Swindon too much time and too much space and second half I thought we were brilliant.

“There are a few who have taken their opportunity, Liam Bennett was exceptional, Tom Knowles was brilliant, Donervon Daniels and Rohan Maher were very lively and would have had longer if he wasn’t late for the team meeting.”

The controversial penalty decision broke the game open for the hosts, as the referee originally gave a free-kick for offside before reversing his decision, sending Minturn for an early bath and giving Johnson the chance to put Walsall a goal to the good.

Swindon manager Scott Lindsey explained: “I’ve just watched it back and he’s not actually in the box when he gets brought down, I haven’t spoken to the referee to find out what went on but I’ll find out.

“We played a young side and it was good for them. I actually thought we played really well without really creating anything.

“I thought we ran out of steam second half, it was a tough night but they’ll get a lot of experience from it, especially the young players.”